Saturday, March 12, 2016

Brevard Times Endorses Donald J. Trump For Florida GOP Primary

Stronger than any other candidate, Mr. Trump has expressed positions that would economically benefit the residents of Brevard County, Florida.

Florida's Space Coast has historically seen the highestsingleconcentration of engineers and computer scientists anywhere in the world since the beginning of the Space Race. Like any profession that is hard to come by, Science Technology and Math (STEM) professions have always been a career path to America's middle class. However, that career path to the American Dream has been jeopardized by the abuse of H-1B visas in the tech sector.

Engineers and program managers earn anywhere from $60,000 to $120,000 annually in Brevard and that growth is boosting the local housing, retail and the service industries. That means that each engineering job might create 1.5 to 2 additional jobs on Florida's Space Coast, an economist modeled for FLORIDA TODAY.

Although most space and defense STEM jobs are not directly threatened by H-1B visas because citizenship and a security clearance are often required, the abuse of H-1B visas places downward salary pressure on all tech sector jobs, including those in the space and defense industries.

Mr. Trump has taken a hard stance against the abuse of H-1B visas while U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) wants to expand the import of foreign skilled labor.

"The H-1B program is neither high-skilled nor immigration: these are temporary foreign workers, imported from abroad, for the explicit purpose of substituting for American workers at lower pay," Mr. Trump said in a press release. "I remain totally committed to eliminating rampant, widespread H-1B abuse and ending outrageous practices such as those that occurred at Disney in Florida when Americans were forced to train their foreign replacements. I will end forever the use of the H-1B as a cheap labor program, and institute an absolute requirement to hire American workers first for every visa and immigration program. No exceptions."

It would be devastating to Brevard County's economy to follow Senator Rubio's continued policy of replacing skilled American IT workers with cheap foreign labor. Therefore, Brevard Times has determined that Donald J. Trump is the best choice for Florida's GOP Presidential Primary when Brevard County Republican voters go to the polls on Tuesday.